SA LIFE: Actors Roy Bumgarner as Arthur and Allan S. Ross as Merlin are seen at San Pedro Playhouse Tuesday, July 15, 2003. They are part of the cast of "Camelot." (KAREN L. SHAW/STAFF)

SA LIFE: Actors Roy Bumgarner as Arthur and Allan S. Ross as Merlin are seen at San Pedro Playhouse Tuesday, July 15, 2003. They are part of the cast of "Camelot." (KAREN L. SHAW/STAFF)

Photo: KAREN L. SHAW, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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S.A. LIFE --- Allan S. Ross, left, is John, Le Tonya Patrick is Sandra, and Benito Lara is Paul, as seen in this June 15, 2004 picture, in the San antonio College Summer Company production of "When the Bough Breaks." (WILLIAM LUTHER/STAFF)

S.A. LIFE --- Allan S. Ross, left, is John, Le Tonya Patrick is Sandra, and Benito Lara is Paul, as seen in this June 15, 2004 picture, in the San antonio College Summer Company production of "When the

“For me, one of the biggest challenges of doing the play is being able to go from the very strong character at the very beginning, to have that arc and downward spiral, and to figure out how to make that physical as well as mental change. Which is hard,” Ross said.

He pointed to one particular scene near the end of the play as an example.

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In it, Lear — who is just barely a shell of the forceful man he is at the start — is finally reunited with his beloved daughter Cordelia as they are both taken to prison.

“I find myself wanting to be stronger than I should be, probably,” he said. “I'm recognizing myself that what I've done before (in rehearsal) is too lively. I barely made it off the stage in the previous scene, so I can't come bounding back on. So that's tough.”

Another challenge is the fact that Lear is frequently responding not to the other characters or the actual action but to what's going on in his head. At one point, to the bewilderment of his retinue, he tries his daughters — present only in his imagination — for their betrayal. He even tears out the heart of one of them.

“I just have to follow the movie in my mind,” Ross said. “And it's a weird movie sometimes.”

As the play opens, Lear announces that he has decided to divide his land and holdings among his three daughters: Goneril (Belinda Harolds), Regan (Gypsy Pantoja) and Cordelia (Kat Connor), who is his youngest child and his favorite. He asks each to say how much she loves him, and the elder girls play along as expected, offering all sorts of flowery compliments. When Cordelia refuses to play to his ego, insisting that the fact that she loves him should be enough, he lashes out, banishing her and handing over the inheritance that was to be hers to her sisters. From then on, he begins to crumble and winds up wandering about as his mind disintegrates, unable to defend himself from those sent to kill him.

“One of the saddest things, I think, in the show, is when Lear is talking to the Fool, and he says, ‘Let me not be mad,'” Ross said. “I can't imagine how horrible that would be, to know that this was happening to you and you can't do anything about it.”

This is the first time that Ross — who is 71 but looks at least a decade younger — has tackled the role. Given his status as one of the most respected actors and directors in town — memorable recent performances include his portrayals of Joe Keller in “All My Sons” and Henry II in “The Lion in Winter” — there's a lot of excitement about the production.

The possibility of working with Ross prompted Matthew Byron Cassi, who has focused more on directing than acting for the past two years, to audition for “Lear.” He was cast as Kent, a man so devoted to Lear that even after he is banished (there's a lot of that in the opening scene), he returns in disguise to watch out for the king.

“To get to sit in the audience or in the cast and watch Allan play this huge role is just an honor, let alone to get to be onstage with him and share scenes with him,” Cassi said. “I have the best seat in the house.”

This is the first time he's worked with Ross in a show, he said, though he did audition for “Visiting Mr. Green” opposite Ross a few years ago. Cassi didn't get the part, but simply doing the cold reading with Ross was so thrilling that he decided he'd grab any chance to work with him.

Ross, he said, is a gracious actor who is fully committed to the craft and putting forth the very best performance he can. That was clear to Cassi a few weeks into rehearsal, when they were working on their first scene together. In it, Kent confronts Lear for his cruelty toward Cordelia.

“I assumed we're going to run this at 80 percent; it's still early, some of us don't quite have our lines yet,” Cassi said. “The minute he turned on me in that scene, I was just floored. ... There was one scene where the sockets of his eyes were twitching, and I thought, ‘He's going full bore.' Two weeks into rehearsal, and he's giving 150 percent. It forces all of us to come to his level.”

Asia Ciaravino, who recently left Classic to take over as executive director of the San Pedro Playhouse, has shared the stage with Ross several times. Most recently, they appeared together in “Hedda Gabler.”

“When you're breathing in the same moment with Allan onstage, it's magic,” she said.

In a sense, Classic's production of “Lear” has been in the works for at least five years. It was to have been the very first show for the company, but they eventually had to set it aside when they couldn't secure a venue.

Ultimately, Ross said, it's just as well it didn't happen then: “Life turns out the way it's supposed to turn out.”

Among other things, he said, he has a little more life experience to draw on, including watching his parents age and his mother-in-law's slow decline because of Alzheimer's disease.

Tony Ciaravino, who is directing the show, feels the same way about the timing of the production.

“He's closer to the age (of Lear) than he would have been five years ago. And he has an emotional depth that he can access very readily,” Ciaravino said. “This is the final sort of jewel in the crown of any Shakespearean actor.”

Ross is still a vital actor, Ciaravino said, adding that one of his goals with the production is to generate the same sense of discovery that's more common for younger actors just breaking through.

“People hear that Allan Ross is doing this show, and they know what they're going to get,” he said. “I want them to be surprised. I want this to be transformative for him.”

The performance is Ross's first spin through the title role, though it is his second “Lear” production. He played Cornwall, Regan's violent husband, when he was in graduate school. That production was brilliant in many ways, he said, but didn't hold together as a unified work. And it left him somewhat ambivalent about the lead.

“It hadn't really occurred to me as a role that I particularly wanted to do,” he said. “And it may have been because I had done Cornwall and it was not a satisfying production. So I sort of said, ‘No, I don't need to do that.' I'd rather do some of the other roles that I think are more challenging.”

Ross, who has three daughters of his own, also found it hard to locate some sympathy for the character, particularly in the scenes in which he tears into his children.

“He's vicious to his girls,” he said. “I can't imagine saying to my daughters, ‘I don't want you ever to have children.' But that's coming from hurt.

“And the people we love are the easiest to hurt. Because we know all the hurt spots and we know all the bad weapons to use. The trick is not to do it. And he no longer has the control; it's just not there. That's part of his madness. And he knows that. Which is really the sad part.”